Kimbra Power

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Every day in the library, children read Graphic Novels. It is the busiest section of the library, the most popular, the most in demand, by the students. Many days in the library, I hear a parent or teacher make a comment about Graphic Novels being “dessert not the main meal”, “not a real book” or an instruction such as “don’t just check out picture books and graphic novels, you need to get some real books too”. These comments are not just directed at Middle Schoolers or Upper Elementary students, they are said in front of Kindergarten and Lower Elementary School students too.

Graphic Novels and Picture books can be accessible to all students. Admittedly, there are some really serious, heavy picture books and graphic novels that I would not want in the hands of some of our younger students, as they are too ‘grown up’, or sad, or violent, or plain old inappropriate; some students are not ready for them. But like Pernille Ripp mentions in her post for those that think Graphic Novels are easy:

For more reading on why Graphic Novels are not just worthy, but essential to our students, check out some of these posts.

One of the best parts of my job, if not, THE very best part, is reading books to students in the library, but how do I decide WHICH books i’m going to buy FOR the library in the first place?

I read many wonderful blog posts and reviews of books on other people’s beautifully curated, up to date, aesthetically beautiful blogs. Some of the people I pay the most attention to are listed here, and others I love to follow are:

*An incredibly curated blog I follow is Maria Popover’s at Brainpicking’s, it is not just about books, but many aspects of our shared experience, and I greatly admire what she contributes to the world.

Here are some of my favourite picture books that I seek out over and over

Third week of books to eat is done, and was wonderful. This year there were so many creative kids and families involved; students worked with siblings, with friends and parents, and teachers got creative with their students in the kitchen. Well done to everyone who contributed. For our final week, there were many sweet entries.

Here are all our entries from Monday the 30th of April, as well as the individual and group entries from 5SM and 5DN on April 23rd. Take a look!

Well done to over 70 students who participated in Books to Eat last Monday Our final round of deliciousness and creativity is tomorrow, April 30th, with contributions from 4th and 5th graders as well as anyone else who is interested.

Here are some of the creations from Monday, thank you to everyone for inspiring us in the Elementary School and making our library such a fun place to be.

For 6 years, we’ve run Books to Eat as an annual fun event in the Elementary Library, celebrating two of my favourite things; books and food. You can see many of our former entries here, but you will need a VPN to access the youtube clip.

We’ve had all sorts of creations submitted…Grapes with angry faces drawn on for Grapes of Wrath, a huge ice cube for Frozen…the emphasis has been on family involvement, imagination and creativity. However for many, it’s been intimidating seeing some of the INCREDIBLY detailed, majestic, fondant -covered creations made by some people, and I can understand that intimidation, after all, I don’t bake.

But this year I feel like people have really started to listen to me when I’ve said, “it doesn’t HAVE TO BE CAKE” it is ANY edible item, with ANY book. The entries this year were so imaginative, and you could see the hands of pre k, k and 1st graders all over them. I was thrilled. Take a look, and remember next week is 2nd and 3rd grade’s turn, with 4th and 5th grade the week after…however, we aren’t to fussy about things like that; anytime you want to get creative, we aren’t going to stop you! And…don’t forget…

There is so much research to show that eating lots of cake in the library is beneficial for children’s brain development and helps get them into Ivy League Colleges. Nah… just kidding, we do it because it is FUN!

1. George O’Connor’s books are for sale in the Elementary Library. He is our visiting author for next week. If you would like your child to buy a book, and have it autographed during George’s visit, please send in money (prices range from 40 rmb for Paperback Captain Awesome to 140 rmb for books for older readers) We have been promoting art, drawing, cartooning and writing through several great links on George O Connor’s website.

There are resources about Greek God’s and Goddesses used in The Olympians series, Mad Libs to fill out, drawings to finish, extra resources to discover, as well as many great videos and resoures of George’s illustrated series like Captain Awesome and Super Turbo.

We often congratulate students for how many books they check out, but we know that there is no proof that they are actually reading those books. Also, a child may complete 22 picture books, in the same time as another reads a huge 800 page chapter book, so rewarding a number doesn’t really seem fair. Still, we don’t mind too much if it is just ONE of the ways we reward our readers.

Some other ways we encourage positive behaviour and attitude in the library is to reward students for how often they recommend books to others, how often they take risks with their book choices and how well mannered they are during check out time.

Here are some of the rewards given to our students to celebrate the first half of the school year. Congratulations to all our readers, the main thing we hope is that you keep coming back for more.